Like most sequels, this is not as good as the original, but it's by no means terrible. Of course it's completely over the top, right from the beginning. I mean that prison that Captain Jack Sparrow escapes from is something out of a Lord Of The Rings film found in Mordor!! But this is a film that is going to give us "Davy Jones" in the flesh as no one ever has, with a decidedly "fishy" crew, who is captain of the ultimate ghost ship, The Flying Dutchman! And this is, again, an over-the-top Flying Dutchman to boot! It's also a film that gives us a Kraken by the ending credits. So it's going to be outlandish!
Returning cast members Knightley, Pryce, Bloom, Davenport and Depp are joined by veteran Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård as "Bootstrap Bill," Will Turner's (Bloom) father, Tom Hollander, Naomi Harris and Bill Nighy as the infamous Davy Jones.
Actor Jack Davenport, who was Commander (later Commodore) Norrington in the first film, had said in interviews that when he saw his fellow actors having such a great time running around the set as pirates, and he had to play the straight, up-tight guy for the entire film he was a bit envious of the fun they were having. Well Norrington is back, only this time Davenport gets his wish. That, for me, is worth the price is admission.
There was controversy concerning filming in Dominica, one of the principle on sight locations for the first film. The first was that this was a much bigger production than the first film; some 500 production crew member swarmed over the tiny island nation and the country was completely unprepared for this. Secondly, Dominica is one of the only Caribbean islands to have an actual "preserve" for an active and cohesive Native community. Most now them as "Island Caribs" (Caribs they are not), or more properly "Karifuna." They call themselves by their ancient name of Kalinago. The chief for the tribe got wind that a scene depicting Caribbean cannibals by a fictitious group that never existed, but was still shown to be an Native American Caribbean population engaging in large scale cannibalism (the scene where they plan to roast Captain Jack). The chief organized a protest of this by indigenous Caribbeans, in an attempt to get Vebrinski to drop it from the film. Obviously he did not. All of this caused the production to be moved to The Bahamas.
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| Scene from the cannibal village |
Runtime: 151 min.
Rated: PG-13
Languages: (mostly) English, Greek, Turkish, and although, not listed on IMDb, Cantonese Chinese
Color (Arriflex and two types of Panavision cameras)
DTS
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
On Sight Filming Locations: Dominica, St. Vincent's and the Grenadines, The Bahamas
Trivia:
The sail able ship built as The Black Pearl was built in a Alabama shipyard called Steiner in La Bayou Batre.
The bone cages were made from durable styrofoam.
Naomi Watts shot her scenes as Tia Dalma (Aunt Dalma) on weekend in The Bahamas, as her "day job" at the time was the filming of the Michael Mann film Miami Vice.
This was a the film that Stones guitarist Keith Richards was to appear in. In addition to half seriously states that he wouldn't be caught dead in a Disney film, he actually had commitments with The Stones during most of the filming dates.
Almost all of Keira Knightley's hair is fake. She had cut all of her own hair off for her role in Domino.
Actor considered for the role of Davy Jones, were Iain Glenn, Richard E. Grant and Jim Broadbent.
Director Tim Burton contributed some of the designs to the building of the full size Flying Dutchman.
REAL PIRATE FACT NUMBER 4
As mentioned above, the only difference between a privateer and an out-and-out pirate was often blurry. The real difference between the two was often a single slip of paper issued by the British crown these were known as Letters of Marque. Queen Elizabeth I had a number of "privateers" that were quite close to her--when they were plundering Spanish galleons, they acted no differently that actual pirates.
Here are a few of her men about sea:
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| Sir Martin Frobisher |
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| Sir Richard Grenville |
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| Sir Richard Hawkins |
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| His son, Sir John Hawkins |
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